


Cupid's on Rapid Fire

by yellowbubble334



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Explicit Language, F/F, Fluff, Lesbian Character, Light Angst, M/M, Multi, POV First Person, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-05-20 11:23:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19375726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbubble334/pseuds/yellowbubble334
Summary: Jay's just trying to figure out what to do with his life while he works with his friends at the coffee shop.  He's never really considered actively searching for a relationship, and he assumed he would know true love when it hit him.  And eventually, it did.  Then it hit him again.  And again.





	1. Chapter 1 - The Story Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hhhhh this is the first fic I'm posting and I'm really nervous even though I know it's not a big deal. I've edited this over and over because I'm not fully satisfied with it. I don't have the story 100% put together but I have a good enough idea to start posting it. But I'm gonna have to figure stuff out along the way. I might change the title later but for now it's that. Anyway, enjoy. I guess...

“I got an Espresso Con Panna for a Simon Jacobs!” I called louder than necessary.  

The skittish blond man in the corner perked up.  He smiled slightly and approached the counter. I gave him a kind smile as he took his drink and handed me the money sheepishly.

“Have a nice day!” I beamed as he turned to leave.

The bell dinged softly and I let out a sigh.  It was a great day in the sweet little coffee shop I called home.  Well, not home, it was just work. 

“Hey, Jay! When you’re done staring off into space, you got another customer.” 

I frowned, looking back at where my tiny gremlin friend, Lloyd sat at the drive thru window.  I stuck out my tongue before turning to greet the customer.

They ordered and went to sit down as I started to make the coffee.

“Why do you look so bored?” I asked Lloyd, who blinked in surprise when he realized I was talking to him.

“Because I am,” he answered plainly, getting up from his spot by the window and walking toward me.  “No one’s ever in a hurry here,” he grumbled, leaning on the counter. 

I laughed.  “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No, because it leaves me with nothing to do.”

I rolled my eyes, finishing the previous order.  

“Moneymaker for James Reynolds!”

“I don’t know why I took this job,” Lloyd yawned.

“Because you need money for college and you wanted a job with your best friend because you're clingy.”

Lloyd frowned.  “I'm not clingy.”

The customer came up to get his coffee and I raised an eyebrow at Lloyd as I handed it to him.

Lloyd sighed.  “Whatever, anyway speaking of college, I'm starting school in a few weeks-”

I smiled.  “You'll be the tiny baby freshman.”

Lloyd snorted.  “I'm not tiny, and you don't get to make fun of me because you haven't even  _ found _ a college yet, and you're like, five years older than me.”

I frowned.  “Low blow, also you got a customer.”

Lloyd turned to see the manager, Nya, had taken his spot by the window.  She took the order cheerfully, before sending the customer to the window.  When she set down the headset Lloyd had abandoned, her facial expression changed from welcoming and kind, to frustrated and annoyed.

“Lloyd…” she began with a sigh.  “You can't keep leaving the window.  I know it's boring for you but please stay on task.”

Lloyd rolled his eyes as he walked back over to the window.  “What are you gonna do? Fire me?”

She whacked him as he passed her.  “I might if you keep this up!”

I chuckled to myself.  We all knew Nya didn't have the heart to fire Lloyd, no matter what he did.  Nya might be a strict and hard-working boss, but she had a soft spot for two things: orphan puppies, and Lloyd.

I glanced around the shop at all the tables where people sat chatting, working on computers, or just sitting and enjoying themselves.

Lloyd was right, I'd have to find a college soon.  My parents wouldn't stop reminding me. The only reason I hadn't chosen a school yet was because in all honesty, I didn't know where to go.  I was smart enough for the really big important schools away from home, but a part of me wanted to stay local and settle down. I didn't have a motivation to do either, so for now, I'd have to wait until that motivation found me.

The bell on the door dinged and I pushed my thoughts aside to greet the person who came into the shop.  However those plans were tossed to the side as soon as I got a good look at the person.

They were taller than me, but just barely, with medium brown hair that was shaped into spikes with gel.  Their skin tone was tan, and they had pale green eyes, one of which, had a scar around it. Their ears were pierced in multiple places, and they had silver earrings in all of them.  They wore a red shirt with a black leather jacket over the top. They had ripped jeans, and black combat boots. To finish the look, they wore fingerless gloves over their hands.

_ Man, what an attractive punk. _

They approached the counter with confidence, but it didn't look self-absorbed or narcissistic.  It was clear they just didn't care if people were judging them, and I could tell there were people who were.

They stepped up to the counter and smiled kindly, which caught me off guard.

“Um, hey,” they said awkwardly, putting their hands in their pockets and immediately changing my perception of them.

I blinked, feeling my voice go.  “H-hi…”

They began to tap their foot on the ground.  “I think I’m gonna get a…” they frowned, looking at the menu board above my head.  

I couldn’t help but stare.  The angles of their face were soft, and their eyes sparkled.  Their skin was flawless, and I wondered if maybe they had used makeup, or if they were just that beautiful.

_ Well fuck I’m really gay. _ _   
_

“Alright I’ll have a-” they furrowed their brows in confusion.  “Uh, you okay dude?”

I brought myself back to reality and smiled.  “Yep!” I squeaked. “How can I satisfy your thirst?”

_ What did I just say? _

They nodded.  “Um, okay… I’ll have a Latte Macchiato with extra shots of espresso.”

It took me a few seconds to register that they had ordered but once I had, I nodded and began making the drink.  “You can sit down if you want!” I called to them over my shoulder. “Just give me a name to write on your cup.”

“Sure, I’m Kai.”

I nodded, and I heard them turn to sit down.  Once I was sure they were out of earshot, I turned and motioned Lloyd to come over.

He shook his head and shrugged.

I groaned and motioned him again.

He looked back and forth to be sure that Nya wasn’t there, before jogging over.

“This better be good because I was just about to fall asleep, and I don’t want to be standing up right now,” he grumbled.

“Dude, I’m really gay.”

“Well yeah what else is new.”

“But like, really gay…”

“Yep.”   


“Seriously look.”  I grabbed his shoulders and spun him around to where the customer was sitting on their phone.

“Damn.”

“Watch your language.”

" Anyway, what’s your point.”

I rolled my eyes.  Lloyd was one of the only people I felt comfortable with talking to openly.  The one problem was, he liked to pretend he didn’t care. He claims it’s because he just doesn’t have the energy to do so, but it really annoys me when I try to talk to him about serious issues.  Like how gay I am.

“My point is I’m really gay and that is the most beautiful human being.”

Lloyd snorted.  “Dude, chill. They’re just another customer.  Treat them how you’d treat anyone else, and they’ll decide if your personality appeals to them.”  With that, he turned and walked back to his normal spot by the window. I sighed. How am I supposed to handle this?

I finished the order and wrote on the name “Kai.”

“A Latte Macchiato with extra shots of espresso for Kai!”

They looked up from their phone immediately and smiled.

As they came over to the counter, Nya poked her head in from the back room, and her eyes widened when she saw who was there.

“Kai?” she hissed through gritted teeth.

Kai and I both turned to face her.  Kai smirked when they saw her.

“Sup.”

“What are you doing here? I told you not to come and embarrass me while I was working.”

Kai shrugged, taking the coffee from my hand and setting the money on the counter.  They were a lot more smug now.

“Who said I was embarrassing you? In fact I forgot you worked here until you poked your little head out.”

Nya rolled her eyes.  “Don’t you have video games or something to occupy your time instead of coming here to get coffee?”

“Don’t worry, I’m leaving now…” They cooed with a laugh.  They turned and walked away without another word. 

Nya let out an annoyed sigh.

“Who was that?” I asked, wondering if I would ever see Kai again.

“My older brother,” she grumbled.  “He knows this is my job, and I don’t know why he thought he could show up and not expect me to tell him to leave.”

I frowned.  “Why is that a problem?” 

She rolled her eyes.  “He likes to embarrass me.”

I nodded in confusion.  "But he said he wasn't embarrassing you…" I was an only child so I had no understanding of the concept of siblings.  Maybe this was normal?

She waved me off.  “Whatever, keep working.  Your shift is almost over so just finish up.” 

I sighed and continued with my work.  I was a little unfocused for the rest of my time, most of my thoughts being about Kai.  I would shoot glances at Nya every once and awhile. Now that I knew they were related, I wondered if I could get information about Kai through her.  Maybe she could convince Kai to keep coming back.

Eventually the sky started to get dark and the people working the night shift started arriving.  I yawned, looking over at Lloyd, who had already fallen asleep. I laughed to myself and walked over to him, shaking him awake gently.

“Hey, buddy… time to go…”

He opened his eyes slowly and lifted his head.  

“Maybe I can just stay here tonight… You think Nya’d let me sleep here on one of the couches?” He grumbled sleepily as he stretched on the stool.

I shook his head.  “No way. She’d send you home hours early if she could.”

Lloyd hummed in agreement.  “Alright, let’s go.”

We said goodbye to Nya and headed outside to my car.  Lloyd leaned on the passenger side window as we drove, nearly falling asleep a few times.  He wasn’t talking to me like he normally would. He wouldn’t even look at me.

“Hey,” I started softly.  “You good?”

“Mhm.”

I frowned.  “You sure?”

He nodded, not moving his gaze from out the window.  “Yep.”

“Okay…”

We continued in silence a little longer before I spoke up again.  “You know, you’re gonna need to get a driver's license before you start school.  And a car probably. I won’t be able to drive you everywhere forever.”

“I know,” he sighed, finally sitting up.  “But be honest, would you really trust me out on the road?”

I chuckled.  “Yeah, you’re right.  Probably not.”

Lloyd smiled slightly.  

By the time we arrived at Lloyd’s apartment, we were talking about our experiences at the shop for that day like normal.

He sat in the car for a little bit after we pulled up to the building and I cleared my throat.

“You gonna go inside or just sit in my car all night?”

He gave a quick shake of his head and smiled, bringing himself back to the moment.  “Yeah, thanks.” 

I watched to make sure Lloyd made it inside before heading to my own apartment.  I stayed up a little late that night, watching TV and thinking about Kai. I fell asleep on the couch, and was launched into a dreamless night.

The next morning I realized I had forgotten to turn my alarm on.  How did I realize it? From the loud knocking on my apartment door.

“Jay! Get your ass up!” the voice called from the other side, and I immediately knew who it was.

“Lloyd…? How did you get here? Your apartment building is like… a mile and a half away.”

“I walked,” he answered plainly.

“You walked?!”

“Yeah that's what I just said, dumbass.”

“Geez, okay watch your language.”

I convinced myself to get up and put on some fresh clothes.  Nya didn't care too much about a specific uniform. She told us as long as the shirt was a solid color so we could put our aprons over it, it was fine with her.  So that's exactly what I did every day. I wore a plain, dark blue t-shirt almost everyday, sometimes wearing gray or black.

“What time is it?” I called to Lloyd, who was still waiting outside.

“About eight-forty.”

“Eight-forty?! Our shift starts in twenty minutes!”

“Well then you should have woken up sooner.”

I grabbed all my stuff and shoved the door open, almost hitting Lloyd in the face as he jumped in surprise with a yelp.

“Let's go,” I said, grabbing his arm to pull him out of the building.

“Oh now you're hustling, okay…” Lloyd grumbled as he struggled to catch up with my speed walking.

I let go of his arm.  “Well I didn't know we were running late! Also how early did you get up to walk here?!”

“First of all, I wake up at, like, four-thirty every morning.”

“What the fuck dude?”

“Second, why didn't you set an alarm?”

We finally reached the garage, and I pointed him to the car as we kept talking.

“I usually do! I just forgot last night for some reason.”

Lloyd hummed in acknowledgment.

I unlocked the car and we hopped in quickly.  I told Lloyd to text Nya that we were running late, just in case we didn't make it on time.

On the drive there, Lloyd didn’t ignore me, so we chatted like normal.  

“Yeah dude I had a weird ass dream last night,” Lloyd said casually, tossing some chips from a bag he had found in my glove compartment into his mouth.

“What was it about.”  I yawned. I probably shouldn’t have stayed up so late last night.

“I don’t know but it was you and I climbing up a skyscraper? And, like, we were being chased by snakes? We were dressed in ninja clothes or something like that? You were shooting lightning out of your eyes at the snakes or some shit… I don’t know, it was weird.”

“Yeah that sounds fucked up.”

Lloyd nodded, dropping some crumbs on the floor of the vehicle.

I cringed.  “Do you have to make a mess of my car?”

Lloyd just stuck out his tongue in response, and we drove the last two minutes in silence.  

We pulled into the staff parking and hopped out of the car.  I stretched my arms over my head, yawning again, and Lloyd took the opportunity to poke me in the stomach, causing me to double over.

“Hey!” I yelped.  

He laughed evilly, turning to head inside.

I rolled my eyes and followed him.  I didn’t think there could be a person more childish than me.

The first thing I saw when I walked in was Nya and her girlfriend Skylor jumping away from each other in surprise and shooting me awkward smiles.

“Oh! Hello, Jay…” Nya laughed nervously, holding her hands behind her back.

I blinked, unamused.  “Hi.”

Skylor cleared her throat.  “Hello, Jay.”

I sighed.  “You were just making out weren’t you?”

“What?!” They both chortled in amusement.  “No… definitely not…”   


“You totally were.”

“Get to work, Jay.”

“Okay,” I chuckled, putting my hands up in defeat and sneaking around them to grab my apron and head to the front counter.

The first few hours were boring.  Only a few customers stopped inside.  Lloyd had even less work to do, and I’m sure he fell asleep more than once.

I wish I could fall asleep, but my job involved me standing the whole time.  However, it being me, I found a way.

It was when I was leaning against my shoulder, my hand laid flat on the counter that I began to doze off, but luckily I didn’t fall asleep fully before someone cleared their throat as they stood in front of the counter.   

I jumped, almost falling backwards.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I blinked awake to see Kai standing in front of me, looking confused and concerned. 

It took me a few seconds to come back to reality, and I shook my head, clearing my thoughts.

“Oh! Hi! I apologize for ignoring you at first.  What can I do fer ya?”

Kai rubbed the back of his head, looking off to the side.  “Um, could I just get what I had yesterday?”

I nodded.  “Of course! I’ll have that ready in a bit.”

I started working on his coffee, but was vaguely aware of the fact that Kai hadn’t gone to sit down yet, and was still standing by the counter, fidgeting.

I tried to ignore him, but eventually I couldn’t help but be distracted by him looming.

“Um, can I help you with anything else?” I asked, which seemed to startle him.  

He shook his head slightly.  “N-no, I just didn’t feel like sitting down I guess.”

I nodded in slight confusion.  Yet I could feel a small blush spreading across my cheeks.  I turned back to my work, and I could swear I felt his gaze on my back, watching me make his drink.  This time, instead of ignoring him, I tried to show off a little bit. Showing how I could work quickly and smoothly without error.

Yeah, I was a little bit of a flirt, but I could tell that this boy was too.

Eventually, it came time to write his name on the cup.  I decided to write a little more and made a bold move. 

I wrote on his cup:  _ Kai, u seem cool txt me ;),  _ then wrote my number below it.  It was a cheesy cliche, I know, but I didn't know what else to do.  Tell him face-to-face? Yeah right.

I handed him the coffee, and he went to go sit down.  I tried to occupy myself with cleaning plates and other dishes as I waited for him to see the message.

After about ten minutes of nothing happening, I turned to see that he was on his phone, drinking the coffee without looking.  His hand was covering the message, and he hadn’t seen it when I handed it to him.

I almost had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

I glanced over at Lloyd, who surprisingly, was finishing up with a customer.  When he finished, I whistled to get his attention. He double checked to make sure there were no more customers, and Nya was busy with other work before coming over to join me.

“What is it now,” he grumbled.  “Are you gonna tell me how gay you are or someth-”

“I gave him my number,” I interrupted with excitement and impatience.

Lloyd blinked.  “What?”

“At least, I tried to.  I wrote it on his cup. But he hasn’t seen it, and he’s covering it with his hand.  He’s not gonna see it and I don’t know what to do!”

Lloyd’s surprise quickly changed into unamusement.  “Well, what do you want me to do?” 

“I don’t know! But you’re the only person I can talk to so stop complaining and help me with my troubles!” I begged, probably a little overdramatically.

Lloyd rolled his eyes.  “Alright, well you need to get him to set the cup down so that when he reaches for it again, he’ll see it.”

I smiled.  “Okay, but how do I do that?”

Lloyd looked behind me at Kai, and I managed to catch a rare occurrence: Lloyd smiling in amusement.

“Looks like you’re gonna have to try again another time, because I think you missed your chance.”

I turned just in time to see Kai toss his cup in the trash, waving goodbye as he walked out the door.

Lloyd waved back and I groaned.

So the story begins.


	2. Why Does it Have to be so Difficult?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a while of no appearances, Jay thought he wouldn't see Kai again, until he bumps into him where he didn't expect to. Luckily the interaction is a success and Jay has hope. But- oh? What's this? Is that... a new challenger has appeared?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof this took a lot longer than it should've but I had a lot of trouble figuring out how I wanted to write these scenes. Luckily I think I figured it out so hooray.

I worked the rest of the day, filled with nervous butterflies.  Part of me hoped that maybe Kai  _ had  _ seen my message and was just waiting to contact me until later.  However, I didn't get any texts that day. Or that night. Or the morning after.

Kai also didn’t show up to the shop the next day.  Even though he wasn’t necessarily a frequent customer, his absence still felt strange.

Everytime the door opened and the bell rang, I would glance up hopefully.  I was disappointed every time.  

_ Maybe you’ll never see him again.  Maybe he was just stopping by to visit Nya or something and he’ll disappear forever.  Maybe he thought you were creepy or annoying and you scared him away. _

Thoughts of Kai constantly distracted me while I worked.  I made a lot of wrong orders, and had a few people complain to Nya about slow service.  She lectured me, of course.

After about three days, I sort of gave up.  I got over the disappointment and reminded myself that the first guy I crushed on wasn’t going to be my fairytale prince.

After about a week, work went back to normal and I almost completely forgot about Kai.

Then came the weekend, and I invited Lloyd over to hang out if he wasn't busy.

"I have a better idea," he replied to my invitation. "Let's go out and about. Your apartment is pretty boring."

I frowned, even though he couldn't see my expression through the call. "Well yours isn't exactly a fun place to be either."

"Exactly, so let's go somewhere. At least for like brunch or something."

I chuckled. "Never saw you as a brunch sort of guy."

Lloyd snorted. "Whatever. I just wanna do something. I have to distract myself from… stuff…"

"Yeah sure. I'll pick you up in about fifteen minutes."

I hung up without waiting for a reply. I wasn't the most mature person, but at least I was hygienic. I spent some time actually caring for myself, taking a shower and brushing my teeth.  Unlike Lloyd, who'll just throw on a hoodie and some sweatpants and consider it a morning routine.

When I got to Lloyd’s I was surprised to see that he actually had put effort into his appearance this time.

I raised an eyebrow as he hopped in the passenger's seat. He let out a sigh once he buckled up and patted his legs as he waited for me to start driving. After a few seconds of waiting, he got confused and looked at me to finally see the curious look I was giving him.

"What?" He grumbled.

"You're actually wearing real clothes on a non-work day."

Lloyd furrowed his brow and nodded slowly. "Yeah…?"

I shook my head and laughed, starting the car. "That's new. Did you brush your hair too?"

"Yeah…” Lloyd groaned and crossed his arms.  “Why are you making it such a big deal?"

I flinched in surprise at his aggression. "I don't know, I was just teasing."

"Whatever," Lloyd scoffed.  He leaned against the window and rested his chin in his hand.

We were silent for a little bit, but I didn't want to have the whole brunch soured by Lloyd's mood. Once Lloyd gets in a mood, he stays in the mood for a while. So I changed the subject.

"Do you have any idea on where to go?"

Lloyd smiled slightly.  “Well, I kinda wanna go back to that one restaurant down by the shop…”

I chuckled.  “You mean the place you almost got kicked out of because a spider crawled on your shoe, causing you to flip out?”

Lloyd frowned.  “Yeah. That place.”

On our way to the restaurant, we had to pass the coffee shop, and I had to fight the urge to pull into the parking lot out of habit.

Luckily, the restaurant didn’t seem very busy, so we had no trouble finding a parking space.

Lloyd walked in the building first, giving him the opportunity to shut the door on my face, which he did.  

“Oof.  Why are you my friend?”

Lloyd only stuck out his tongue in reply.

The restaurant was small and cozy.  It had more of a cabin in the woods type of look rather than painted walls and bright lights.  There were few lamps, and the restaurant was mostly lit by what came in through the many windows.

The hostess greeted us with a smile when we walked in, but that expression quickly changed to shock.

She let out a gasp.  “Oh my goodness! It’s you! Spider-shoe!” She leaned back to address the chefs behind her.  “Guys! It’s Spider-shoe! He’s back!”

Lloyd groaned and hid his face in his hands.

I tried my hardest not to laugh but eventually I had to giggle. 

The chefs in the kitchen started clapping and cheering.  Lloyd tried not to smile, but he ended up laughing, red with embarrassment.

After a short while, the chefs went back to their work, and the hostess went back to deciding what table to give us.

“Alright well I have a table for you two over here so-”

“They can sit with us!” A voice from a table off in the corner.

We all looked over to see Nya and Skylor sitting next to each other on a booth facing us.  Nya was waving us over, and Skylor was just waving.

“Do you know them?” The hostess asked.

Lloyd and I nodded simultaneously.  

The hostess smiled.  “Alright, I’ll send over a server in a little bit, if you’d like to join them.”

I jogged over to the table, and Lloyd walked behind me.

“What’s up gays,” I greeted, leaning on the opposite side of the booth the girls were sitting on.  

“We’re not interrupting any sort of date are we?” Lloyd asked.

Nya scoffed.  “Well I don’t think I’d bring my brother to a date.”

“Well yeah, obviously… I don’t know why anyone would-”

_ Wait. _

I turned hesitantly to look at the booth I was standing over and sure enough, there sat Kai frozen and eyes wide, with his mouth stuffed with food.

He waved.  “Hi,” he murmured through his full mouth.

I blinked.  “H-hello…” I whipped my head back toward Nya, who shrugged.  

“If I didn’t bring him with he would’ve just sat around all day playing video games,” Nya explained.

Lloyd grinned.  “Well, we should take a seat!” He practically shoved me into the booth next to Kai, before he scooted in next to Nya and Skylor.

I sat up in the booth, scooting about a foot away from Kai.  He cleared his throat and I tapped my fingers on the table.

“Isn’t it great that we all ended up at the same place? What a pleasant coincidence!” Lloyd bubbled, clearly enjoying my discomfort.

Skylor smiled, being the only one to not know that Kai and I had met, she didn’t quite catch onto Lloyd’s smugness. 

“It  _ is  _ great to have the gang all together!” She chirped.  “Although, I don’t know if you two have met Kai…”

Lloyd gasped.  “No we haven’t!” He lied.  “Let’s meet each other.”

He held out his hand across the table, and after a few seconds, Kai nervously shook it.  

“I’m Lloyd.  You’ll get sick of me quickly.”

“It’s nice to meet you.  I got a pretty good first impression.”

Lloyd squinted curiously.  “Cool…?”

Kai nodded over to the hostess stand.  “You seem to have made a reputation for yourself here.”

Lloyd turned red in embarrassment.  I thought I was supposed to be the one feeling awkward.

Kai chuckled and changed the subject.  “So… you work at the coffee shop too?”   


Lloyd nodded.  “You probably won’t see me often though, because I usually work at the drive thru window, unless we’re super busy.”

“Which is rare,” Nya added.

Kai nodded, before turning to me expectantly.

For a few seconds, I forgot that I was supposed to introduce myself too.

“Oh, uh… yeah, I’m Jay.” 

Kai laughed softly.  “I know. I saw your name tag at the coffee shop.”

“Oh, haha.  Right…”

_ Well then what’s the point of this? _

Skylor frowned.  “Oh so you guys  _ have _ met.”

“Well not formally…” Kai mumbled.  “All I know is that you work in the coffee shop.”

“Well then hopefully this brunch will give you an opportunity to learn more,” I cooed with a smirk.

The other boy giggled and looked away.

_ Was that a weird thing to say… Now that I think about it… That seems like a weird thing to say…” _

There was a brief awkward silence, and Nya cleared her throat.  “So are you two going to order any food? I’m assuming that’s why you came here in the first place.”  

“Actually we got uncomfortable when we didn’t get the chance to work for you while you scolded and motivated us to get working, so we tracked you down using pure boredom so we didn’t have to wait a few days to see you again,” I blurted with a straight face.

Nya blinked, unamused.  She turned to Lloyd.

“I came here for food and nothing else.”

Nya waved over a server passing by and we ordered something to satisfy Lloyd’s desperate need for food, as well as something for me.  Nya and Skylor’s plates were mostly empty, and they had been waiting on Kai to finish before we arrived.

“So, Skylor…” Lloyd started.  “We haven’t seen you around the coffee shop in a few days.  How have you been?”

Skylor beamed.  “Well actually I’ve been pretty busy with studies recently.  I had a big project due yesterday that I had to work on instead of going to the shop.”

“Speaking of which!” Nya interjected, jumping into the conversation.  “You ready for school soon, Lloyd?”

Kai and I sat awkwardly as the three began chatting on the other booth.  

I prepared to sit in uncomfortable silence while they talked, but Kai cleared his throat to get my attention.

“So I know this is kinda a basic conversation starter…” Kai began softly so the other three wouldn’t hear.  “...and the other three are already talking about it, but are you going to school? Or… thinking about going to any school…? Or are you planning to just work at the coffee shop?”

I ran my hand through my hair nervously.  “Well… I’m not sure where I want to go yet… I don’t even know if I want to stay local or go out of state.  I don’t really have the motivation to do either.”   


Kai nodded.  “That’s cool…”

“What about you?”

Kai shrugged, taking a sip of his drink.  “I go to school a few cities over in Stixx.”

I raised my eyebrows.  “Huh. One of the schools I was accepted to is in Stixx…”

“Cool.”

There was more awkward silence, and Kai turned away to look out the window.  I figured the conversation was probably over, so I tuned in to the other’s conversation to see if I could join in.

“Wait really?!” Lloyd was responding in shock to something Skylor had said.

She nodded.  “It only lasted about a month or so, and we weren’t super serious about it.  It came to an end when we realized we were both looking for… a different kind of person.”

“What are we talking about?” I questioned, butting in.

“Kai and Skylor used to be dating,” Lloyd responded.  

I blinked.  That was not what I was expecting.  “Oh, why’d you guys break up?”

Nya cleared her throat and slung her arm around Skylor’s shoulder.  “Take a guess.”

Kai chuckled and leaned away from the wall.  “We both realized we weren’t really interested in putting much effort into the relationship, and when I introduced her to Nya for the first time, we both kinda figured out why.”

“Eventually I realized I was happier around Nya than I ever had been when I was with Kai,” Skylor continued.  “And Kai realized he wasn’t fulfilled either.”

“We laugh about it now,” Kai said.  “Both of us were so clueless,” he laughed.

I nodded with a smile.  “So, did  _ you  _ find anyone else?”

Kai opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the server bringing our food.

Lloyd began scarfing his down, while I still eagerly awaited Kai’s answer.  However he seemed to now be distracted.

“So, Kai,” Lloyd began, his mouth full of food.  “Are you trying to imply you like dudes?” His eyes widened.  “Oh, sorry if that was too forward…”

Kai shrugged.  “Yeah I guess, and it’s fine.”

“Me too!” I chirped suddenly, causing Kai and Lloyd to jump.  Lloyd coughed a little on his food and scowled at me.

“I mean, uh, I like dudes as well…”

Kai blushed and laughed awkwardly.  “Well, something in common I guess…”

“Haha, yeah…”   


_ Why can’t social interaction be like it is in the movies? _

“Hey guys wanna hear about the time Kai got his wisdom teeth removed and he burst into tears upon seeing an aisle of stuffed animals at Walmart?” Nya asked.

For the next hour or so Nya told embarrassing stories about Kai and their childhood, to which he responded by telling stories about her.  With the ball rolling, we all started telling stories about each other to the point where it almost became a game. I told the others the  _ The Spider-shoe Story  _ and Lloyd decided he wanted to go home.  Although that was probably good because Nya, Kai, and Skylor had planned to leave a while ago.

As Lloyd said goodbye to Skylor and Nya, Kai came over to me sheepishly.  

“Hey so uh… you’re pretty cool…” he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.  “It’d be fun if we could hang out sometime… like, just the two of us… if you wanted to.”

I blinked.  “Y-yeah! That’d be great!”

“Really?”   


“Do you want my number?” I asked a little too eagerly.

We exchanged numbers and after confirming we had the right contact, we went our separate ways, and I took Lloyd home.

“Well that was fun,” he said as we drove.  “I was really surprised to see Skylor and Nya there, but I’m glad that they were.  And they brought Kai-”

“I got his number.”

Lloyd blinked in surprise.  “Huh. Well that’s great… right? You don’t have to keep writing your number on cups in hope he’ll see it.”

I shrugged.  “I… yeah? I think…? He seemed really excited to get together… am I overanalyzing this? What does he want?!”

Lloyd rolled his eyes.  “Look, just get to know him as if you guys were friends.  Talk to him like you first talked to Nya when you met her, then as you get closer, talking to him will become natural, then once you know how to talk to him, you can figure out if you want to take it further.”

I raised my eyebrows.  “That… helps. Thanks Lloyd.”

He nodded.  “If my advice gets you laid, then you gotta give me fifty dollars and make me coffee for a week.”

I nearly crashed the car.  “Lloyd!”

Lloyd snickered.  “Anyway, I gotta get home and take a nap.  That was enough interaction for today.”

“Well luckily we’re at your apartment so get out.”

* * *

 

Later that night I got a text from Kai, which I responded to way too quickly.  He basically told me he was going to be free next weekend, and he asked if I was too.

Of course I replied yes without thinking.

I returned to work like normal after the weekend.  Well, almost like normal. I was hoping Kai would stop by the shop for a visit, and once again, I got distracted from my work.  Just like before, every time the bell rang it caused me to glance up. Every time I got a notification, I would check it. Sometimes at inappropriate times.

I think Nya gave up on scolding me.

Kai  _ did  _ come in that Tuesday to bring something Nya had forgotten at home and to get something to drink.  Unfortunately he had to go right away, so there wasn’t much time to talk. He had just enough time to confirm plans for that weekend and to say “hello” to Lloyd, before he left in a hurry.

I asked Nya if she knew why he was in such a rush, but she just shrugged.

“It’s probably not anything important,” she’d told me.  “Sometimes he’s just anxious to go home and sleep or play video games.”

“Does he have a job he’d be late to?”

“I don’t think so.  If he does he didn’t tell me about it.”

Nya didn’t seem worried so I brushed off my slight worry, trying to tell myself I needed to stop thinking about Kai.

Thursday morning, I was waiting in the car for Lloyd to come out of his apartment, and I got another text from Kai saying he was going to try and stop by the coffee shop that day.

I smiled and responded to assure him I’d be there.

Someone knocked on the car door and I yelped in surprise.  I turned to see Lloyd staring through the window in annoyance.  

I heard his muffled voice through the closed window.  “Are you gonna let me in or…?”

I smiled again and unlocked the door.  

He plopped in the passenger's seat and groaned.  “I really don’t want to work today…”

I raised an eyebrow.  “Are you implying there are days where you  _ do  _ want to work?”  I started the car and began driving.

He leaned on the window and sighed.  “Some days, it’s nice to hang out with you, Nya, and Skylor.”  His words were interrupted by a wide yawn, that ended in a little kitten squeak.  I’ve learned not to make fun of Lloyd for his kitten squeak yawns, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t smile.

“But other days, I’d prefer to not need to pretend to be nice,” he finished.

“Why don’t you just be nice for real and… not pretend?”

Lloyd scoffed.  “I don’t want to today… or most days.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled into the coffee shop parking lot.  “Well luckily for you, you get good breaks in between interactions.”

Lloyd hummed.  “Yeah I guess.”

Work that day was surprisingly busy, unfortunately for Lloyd.  

For a while, I completely forgot Kai was coming over, and I didn’t remember until I got another text from him during my break, saying he was on his way.

I felt my heart jump briefly when I got the text, before forcing myself to calm down.

Lloyd scoffed from where he sat next to me at the table.  During our breaks, we get food and coffee for ourselves and relax among the customers.

“You’ve only known him for a few days, calm down Romeo,” Lloyd teased, picking up a scone.

I stuck my tongue out and put my phone down on the table, taking a sip of my smoothie.

“What are you even talking about with this dude?” Lloyd asked, reaching over to pick up the phone.

“First of all, you won’t be able to get into my phone.  It can only be opened with my fingerprint.”

“Damnit.”

“Second, it’s nothing weird.  We just… say stuff like ‘good morning’ or ‘what’s up…’ and we’ve been talking about getting together this weekend.”

Lloyd raised an eyebrow.  “Who always texts first?”

I frowned in confusion.  “Why… does that matter?”

“Who does it?”

“Usually it’s Kai…”

Lloyd hummed.  “Interesting…”

We chilled for a little longer before we noticed people were starting to come in more often so we got back to work.

In the back of my mind I reminded myself to keep a look out for Kai.  

"Here's your Caramel macchiato, sir! Have a nice day!" As I was finishing up an order, I heard the bell on the door ring.  

The man whom I was finishing up with grumbled a thank you and took his coffee.  I glanced up to see who had come in, hoping it was Kai, but instead, I gasped.

_ Oh no… _

He was tall and muscular, with dark brown skin and long, wavy black hair.  He wore a dark gray muscle tank and dark blue Jeans. He wore what looked like brand new headphones around his neck, and to complete his look he wore black and white jogging shoes.

_ It's another pretty man, shit shit shit. _

He glanced around as he walked in and let out a sigh, before approaching the desk confidently.  Yet, in a different way than Kai had the first time he'd walked in here. He was more cheerful and careless.  He took faster yet heavier steps than Kai, and moved his arms more.  

He strolled up to the counter, towering over me and I gulped, feeling a little intimidated.

He opened his mouth and started ordering, immediately making me feel less nervous.  

"Hi there!" His voice was more high pitched than I expected, and it was more bubbly than I thought.

I cleared my throat, trying to find my voice again.  “Hello, uh… what can I do- er, make, I mean get for you?”

_ Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. _

He didn’t hesitate to answer.  “I’ll have a tall Caffѐ Americano.”  His eyes widened. “Uh, please. I forgot to say please.”

I smiled awkwardly.  “Yep of course. And a name…?”

“Cole,” he replied.  “What’s yours?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but unfortunately it seemed I had forgotten my name.  After a few seconds of him patiently waiting for him to answer, he finally noticed I had a nametag.

“Oh! Jay! Nice to meet you Jay!”

I nodded.  “Yep. Uh, I’m gonna make your coffee now.”

“Okay, cool!”

As soon as he was out of earshot, I turned to my bored friend.  

“Lloyd…” I whispered.  “Help…”

It seemed he knew exactly what I was going to say.  He rolled his eyes and turned away, picking up his headset since he had a customer approaching. 

I turned back to look at Cole as I worked on his drink.  He was reading a magazine, leaning against the couch casually.  

I sighed, finishing up his order.  “Caffѐ Americano for Cole.”

The man smiled and jumped up from his seat right away.  “Thank you! I’ve gotta go but I really like this place. Maybe I’ll come here more often!”

I grinned.  “Yeah, that’d be cool.  It’d be nice to see you in here!”

Cole beamed and after a few seconds of prolonged eye contact, he turned and left.

Kai didn’t end up coming that day, hours later he apologized in a text, saying it was because something unexpected came up and he couldn’t get out of it.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but I told him it was fine and said I was excited for that weekend. He replied with a smiley face.

I turned off my phone and looked outside the windows of the shop.  It was dark outside, telling me I’d get to go home soon. I turned to look at Lloyd, and surprisingly, he was still awake, scrolling through his phone.  

I heard the door open and saw the people on the next shift arriving.  

I let out a sigh of relief and dashed over to Lloyd, grabbing his arm.  “Time to go home.”

He groaned, “Thank goodness.  Let’s get the fuck outta here.”

We rushed to the door but Nya grabbed my shoulder and stopped me before I could leave.  “Jay wait, I need to ask-”

“Go Lloyd!” I shouted.  “Go on without me! Save yourself!”

She groaned.  “Oh come on… It’s not  _ that  _ bad working here.”

I shrugged.  “Eh, you’re right.”

“Anyway, I was just gonna ask if you could take me home.  Skylor brought me here this morning and said she’d pick me up too but I think she fell asleep and I don’t have a car.”

I nodded.  “Yeah sure.  Lloyd! We’re taking Nya home too!”

Lloyd shot me a thumbs up out the passenger’s side window.  

We dropped off Lloyd first, since his apartment was closer.  He seemed more talkative with Nya in the car, which I could understand.  Nya had a friendly energy that made people comfortable around her.

We sat to watch Lloyd and make sure he got inside before heading off to drop Nya off.

“So, you going out with Kai?” She asked after a long silence, catching me off guard.

“What? N-no, what makes you say that?”

She furrowed her brow in confusion.  “Because he told me…?”

I blinked.  “He told you we were going out?!”

“Yeah, this weekend right? He says you haven’t decided what you’re gonna do yet, but you’re excited.”

_ Oh that’s what she means. _

“Oh yeah! We’ve been talking about it since the brunch.”  We were pulling up to a stop light and the light turned yellow.

She nodded.  “You like him, don’t you.”

The stop light turned red and I slammed on the brakes probably too hard.  “What?”

She nodded.  “So you do? Okay.  I’m fine with it. He probably likes you too in fact, with how much he talks about you.  And you both have a similar chaotic energy. You two would probably be great together.”

I stared at her, wide eyed.  “Is this another thing I’m misunderstanding or…”

She rolled her eyes.  “I’m saying you’re gay for my brother.”  

“Uh… no…?”

She laughed.  “Alright, if you wanna deny it then fine.  Just know I’m rooting for you.” She looked out the window.  “Oh, my apartment's right ahead.”

I pulled up to the apartment and Nya hopped out.  Before she closed the door however, she bent down to tell me something else. 

“By the way, Kai likes the zoo.  I know it sounds weird, but that might be a fun first date idea.”  She winked and closed the door without another word.

I watched her walk away for a few seconds then started driving home.

“The zoo?” I whispered to myself.  “I’d be down for the zoo.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oop a date? At a zoo?! Sounds fun. Yet with these boys it's bound to be chaotic.

**Author's Note:**

> Well. I hope that was a satisfying beginning and I'll try not to make the rest of the story a disappointment.


End file.
